Interview with Felicia Day

Yesterday Felicia Day hosted an epic 12 HOUR Google+ HangOutathon as a subscription drive for her new ‘Geek and Sundry’ Channel on YouTube. Over the course of the day there was a non-stop line up of guests, competitions, teasers and panels covering a huge range of topics. The new channel has an impressive line up of shows, with something for everyone.

I couldn’t watch the whole 12 hours, but every time I tuned in I was sucked into watching far longer than I meant to. Felicia is a great host and has a superb team that really work together to create a quality product. I just wish we could have seen more of Kim Evey 🙂

There was an IRC chat going on over on the geekandsundry.com community site, and this held up incredibly well all the time I was online. I took some screengrabs when I remembered, which you can see on Flickr:

Today they launched the first of many shows, including Felicia’s new vlog, The Flog, and a all-new music video from The Guild:

Felicia is one of the reasons I got into making web videos in the first place. It might be hard to believe now, but four years ago Felicia didn’t know she would now be a huge star. Nothing has been given to her on a plate. She has worked incredibly hard to get where she is and she has done it with grace, determination and an inclusiveness that makes people feel like they are part of her success. She has continually strived to push boundaries and bring people forward with her, and to do things her way. I think we have only just seen the start of what she will achieve.

Could anyone else be as successful as Felicia? Who knows? If you are asking that question then you might want to consider something else. If you pursue your passion, work at your craft and produce the very best work that you can, will your soul be satisfied? If you can honestly answer yes, then carry on striving because you will get your reward. It might not be your own branded channel and suite of shows on YouTube, but it will be worth it in ways you might not even realise yet.

Now, please excuse me while I go and finish editing this novel* 🙂

Bonus: A panda!

Spot the geek and sundry panda

* Not a turn of phrase, I really am editing a novel that I hope to have out by the summer. More on that soon!

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Firstly, hearty congratulations to the winners of the IAWTV Awards (the full list is on the IAWTV website). You will forever be the first cohort of IAWTV winners, something to be proud of. Secondly, congratulations to the production team who managed to pull off an impressive evening, no mean feat for a first year. Thirdly, overall I was really pleased with the whole event, thought it was well conceived and executed.

No comparisons
There is little point in trying to compare last night’s awards to past events. This is the first awards the IAWTV have hosted and they should be assessed on that basis. I am a member of the IAWTV and this event was a celebration of a community I hold dear. I can’t pretend to be a dispassionate observer, because I’m not. I was making screengrabs throughout the show so I’m not going to give a blow-by-blow account. I did enjoy the liveblog of the event by Amanda Walgrove in The Faster Times even though I don’t agree with all of her observations. It is likely that the IAWTV Awards will be at CES again next year, so this was a great base to build on and I have no doubt that next year’s will be even better.

You can see the screenshots here:

What was good

There was a clear plan for the evening, and even when things didn’t go to plan I never felt concerned that the whole event was going wrong.

There was obviously a big emphasis on timing, and things did move along quickly. That is a huge achievement.

Tech always goes wrong, but the show carried on, which is exactly what should happen.

There was an underlying respect for the occasion, the space and the community. Even though there were cracks about web TV I could have done without hearing from some quarters, the ceremony itself was respectful, dignified and fitting.

Some of the pre-recorded segments were very good indeed.

There were no streakers.

Jane Espenson and Bernie Su hosting at the IAWTV Awards

What could have been better

The stress on timing meant that people were literally running on and off stage and sometimes the stage was empty. This wasn’t a major issue in the overall scheme of things but would be an area to look at for next year. I would have preferred the award section hosts to stay on stage at all times and help get people on and off stage and cover for any glitches.

Sound was an issue all the way through and would be the #1 priority for next time. Levels fluctuated wildly from silence to barely-there to booming and back again. However, anyone who has had to perform in any venue not run by them will tell you that sound is one of the hardest things to get right. Even with well equipped desks and great sound engineers, things can go wrong. Someone should have had a handle on the hot mics, at least, to spare us the unguarded commentary.

Some of the live segments fell flat, some of the recorded segments were too long, and sometimes meshing the live and recorded together went awry. Again, these are problems all live shows are subject to. Most of the things that could be controlled before the event were, and that’s all you can hope for.

Using YouTube meant that there was effectively no chat room because it was pretty much spammed all the way through.

I understood the idea behind using Siri – the Awards were at CES! – but it didn’t quite work and added another layer of complication that didn’t need to be there.

April Grant, Amanda Shockley and Kai Haison hosting at IAWTV Awards

Individual high points

Grace Helbig – I am not familiar with this young lady or her show ‘Daily Grace‘, but her performance last night was very good so I will investigate further.

The Indie Intertube ladies – I’ve known Amanda and April for quite a while and actually met them this year (yay!). They were poised and classy hosts and I was so proud to watch them on stage.

Elisabeth Flack receiving an award for Exceptional Individual Service. Elisabeth worked behind the scenes tirelessly for the IAWTV and she was incredibly helpful and welcoming to me when I was considering joining the IAWTV. You are an inspiration, Elisabeth, and I was thrilled to see you honoured.

Jane Espenson

Personal low points
If you were in the IAWTV chat room last night you would know what these were for me. Not sure I’ll share them beyond that but there were parts that I thought were ill-conceived, mainly relating to individuals whom I think should know better. Or maybe I just don’t get their humour. Lots of people don’t share my sense of humour, either, so maybe it’s down to a question of taste.

Take-AwaysThis was a celebration of web TV, the creators and the community and went off without any major problems. I think the infrastructure is building to take advantage of the opportunities that will open up in the coming months. We want people outside our space to take us seriously as professionals. This was a step towards achieving that, and I thank the Academy and everyone who helped make it a success. Have a day off this weekend for once. You deserve it.

So very Shiny!
Last Saturday was the 5th Annual “Can’t Stop The Serenity” (CSTS) event in Vancouver – and what a time was had. From 10:30 onwards there was a feast of entertainment and camaraderie with a Dr Horrible sing-along, screening of The Masked Roger and Browncoats: Redemption first cut, bingo, costume competition and, of course, SERENITY! CSTS is an annual charity fundraising event that takes place to raise money for Equality now and local charities. We took our new camera and made a little film….

It was a packed, too, with tickets selling out on the day. People who were in the MacMillan Space Centre for other things were drawn to the event and two people asked me what it was all about – one of whom was a Joss fan who will hopefully be joining the BC Browncoats now. I will be blogging about the event later, but for now you can find lots more photos from the day at the BC Browncoats Meetup site.

Thank you to Gayle, Serena and EVERYONE who made the day such a brilliant event. All the money raised there goes to Equality Now and BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre Foundation. We’re looking forward to next year’s already!

Music matters: The song on the video is “Look at The Moon” by Killingstars (wow – they look really cool! :))